Oral Answers to Questions

Lord Soames of Fletching Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2017 Commons Chamber

[Mr Speaker]

I call Karen Buck. Not here. Well, one person who is here—I can see that very clearly, to my great satisfaction—is the right hon. Member for Mid Sussex (Sir Nicholas Soames).

The Secretary of State was asked—

[Sir Nicholas Soames (Mid Sussex) (Con)]

2. What her plans are for education funding in West Sussex.

[The Secretary of State for Education (Justine Greening)]

We are replacing the historical postcode lottery in school funding with a proper, transparent national funding formula that is fair whereby funding will be allocated to schools based on the needs of pupils. Compared with the alternative of the current postcode-lottery approach, the fairer funding proposals on which we are consulting would mean a £14.6 million annual increase in funding to local West Sussex schools.

[Sir Nicholas Soames]

I am sorry, Mr Speaker; you caught me without my wig.

Almost all the 286 schools in West Sussex find their budgets under extreme strain, so they welcome these new developments, but as West Sussex is already one of the lowest funded of all the shire counties, will my right hon. Friend look very carefully in particular at the budgets of small rural schools, which find themselves unfortunately and unfavourably treated?

[Justine Greening]

Of course, my right hon. Friend will be aware that we are in the second phase of the consultation on the introduction of the national funding formula. This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to finally reach a settlement on fair funding that really works. I know that he and many other colleagues will have their views about how they want the formula to work, and he is right to raise them.